My puppy won't come when I call him!..

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Hey..I just got a new puppy.He is two and a half months old.He is very quiet,doesn't bark or cry, stays in his crate without a problem,hasn't has ANY accidents,has great bladder control...he is a wonderful puppy.But I see in him a very independent spirit,so he doesn't listen very much to me...he won't come, no matter how many voices and claps and whatever I do to call him.I do ti from a close distance.He is a male Dachshund.Any advice?

Tee hee doxies are terriers and hounds smooshed together into one independent, fearless little package!

The key to getting terriers and hounds to listen to you is to make listening to you totally worth their while. If you don't, they'll find something more fun and interesting. Pup's still a youngin' so you've got plenty of time to work on this.

Find stuff she loves and use that to your advantage. Call her a bazillion times a day and always reward her handsomely when she comes, even if she's pokey slow, even if she makes a detour on the way. Then let her go back to doing what she was doing. Doxies are smart and she'll figure out pretty quick that if every time you call it means playtime is over, she'll just decide that coming when called is really not worth her while. When you call, sound happy, not angry or anxious. Don't go running towards her but away from her and call her to follow. When she makes it to you, reward her like she just laid a golden egg!

The best trick I ever learned is so easy to teach and has a great response. Sit down with your dog and a handful of small treats (hot dog pieces, cut up soft treats, something easy and fast to eat). Place a treat in your dogs mouth. At the same time you place the trat in the dog's mouth, say your dogs name. Say it in a different tone everytime you give a treat. Say it sweet, say it mad, say it like you're calling "Baguette!". Just repeat, repeat, repeat. before long, Baguette will come running whenever he hears his name.

I think the best way to teach come is to not EVER give them a chance to refuse. Our obedience trainer always recommended keeping a short leash on the puppy in the house, and a longer 20 ft lead outside in the yard. When you tell the pup to come, be ready to 'reel' him/her in if they don't come on their own. Don't ever tell the pup to come if you aren't prepared to enforce it, they learn they only have to come if they feel like it. In practice sessions we always said 'come Mattie', in a very excited voice, (walking backwards so we were facing her), and praising her tons when she got to us(whether on her own, or if we had to use the leash to guide her). Practice it as much as possible, in short little sessions throughout the day.
It may take months to get really reliable recall,and some pups take longer than others. Reliable recall is the most important thing to teach a dog, especially for emergencies like dog running out the door into the road, etc. Good Luck !

i saw this on tv once; you need a clicker (they're like $1.50 at petsmart) and at some random time (or a designated training period) keep clicking the clicker really fast, and say come, when he comes, give him a treat. puppies like the sound and when you give them a treat in response to hearing the clicking/doing the command correctly, they associate it with treats. after a while, you won't need the clicker (hopefully) because he will be trained to come when you say "come". I hope this made sense!